Amtrak hosts "civic conversation" on San Antonio depot

As a part of its Great
American Stations Project, Amtrak is hosting its fifth Civic Conversation in
San Antonio, Texas, to discuss the redevelopment and restoration of passenger
rail stations with a focus on communities along the routes of the Texas Eagle, Sunset
Limited and Heartland Flyer. The two-day workshop, January 27-28, includes
information on design and planning guidelines and a how-to session on getting
started on a station renewal project and the types of state and federal grants
available for station improvements.

Mayors, other civic
leaders and state officials in Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois,
Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas have been invited to attend.

During the meeting, case
studies from both large and small communities will be highlighted with
representatives of those cities explaining how they shepherded their projects
to successes, including additional redevelopment. In addition, this year's
deadline to meet station accessibility standards under the Americans with
Disabilities Act will be discussed, along with the best practices to meet the
requirements.

Thomas Carper, a former
Illinois mayor who now chairs the Amtrak Board of Directors, will report on the
railroad's record-breaking first quarter ridership and point to new stations and
routes as important factors in the growth of Amtrak. These examples include:

• The addition of Northeast
Regional corridor service between Washington, D.C., and Lynchburg, Va., has
carried nearly 30,000 riders since service was inaugurated on October 1, 2009
on a route previously served by a single frequency overnight train.

• Leavenworth, Wash.,
(population 2,000) has had 3,370 riders through mid-January, after opening the
new station on September 24, 2009.

• Stanwood, Wash.,
(population 4,000) has had 818 riders through mid-January, after opening a new
station on November 21, 2009.

• New Buffalo, Mich.,
(population 2,200) has had 852 riders through mid-January, after opening a new
station and adding new frequencies on October 26, 2009.

Amtrak owns only about
one-quarter of the 528 stations it serves. Roughly 33 percent of all Amtrak
stations are owned by cities, 27 percent are owned by the freight or host
railroads over whose tracks Amtrak trains travel and 27 percent are owned by
Amtrak (primarily on the largely Amtrak-owned Northeast Corridor).
Additionally, private parties own eight percent, and the remaining five percent
are owned by other entities, such as port authorities, commuter railroads, or
transit agencies.

The Amtrak GreatAmericanStations.com
Website enables an exchange of information and provides a point of initial
contact to develop partnerships in this initiative to rebuild and revitalize
stations. The website currently spotlights the success of the station project
in Hattiesburg, Miss., and includes descriptions of stations along most of the
routes in the 21,000 mile Amtrak network, along with daily updates of Amtrak
news.